TOULON — A Wyoming man with five drunken-driving convictions and a history of having “skirted” that charge on other occasions was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison by a Stark County judge.

Earl Ivan Dick III, 41, pleaded guilty to felony DUI in May under a partly negotiated agreement that capped his prison term at 11 years. Stark County State’s Attorney James Owens argued Dick should be sentenced to that for his latest conviction on an offense that he first committed in North Carolina at age 19.

“He has worked his way up to the maximum disposition in this case,” Owens said.

A longtime friend who traveled from Michigan to testify on Dick’s behalf said he had gone through a rough life from a young age, and even offered to open her home to him and pay for alcohol treatment if that would keep him out of prison.

Even Public Defender Robert McBride acknowledged while questioning Dockerty that Dick almost was certainly bound for prison, and he focused on a more modest goal than avoiding that in his own arguments for the defendant.

But Keith pointed out that Dick had squandered past opportunities for treatment alternatives in other states. Owens said Dick had “walked away” from DUI charges in Minnesota and South Dakota, and Keith noted that he had dodged prosecution in Kansas by committing to a New Mexico treatment program that he then didn’t attend.

“DUI is the most serious traffic offense,” Keith told Dick. “You’ve committed several, and there are others you haven’t answered to because you’ve skirted the jurisdictions.”

Dick will qualify for day-for-day credit that will cut his prison time in half, Keith said. He also was given credit for 261 days already served in the Stark County Jail.

Gary L. Smith can be reached at (800) 516-0389 or glsmith@mtco.com. Read his Northern Circuit blog at pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Glsmithx.